Australia Annual Tasting Report: A Tilt Toward Poise and Purity

2183 TASTING NOTES
Monday, Jan 27, 2025

Left: The view toward the Derwent River in Tasmania, the source of some of Australia’s most talked about riesling, chardonnay and pinot noir. | Right: Bass Phillip's Estate and Premium 2022 pinot noirs and chardonnays are among the highest-scoring bottles in this report.

The JamesSuckling.com team tasted more than 2,100 wines from Australia in 2024, spending over seven months in the country exploring all its major wine regions and tasting widely through the 2022 and 2023 vintages along with a few highly anticipated releases from 2021.

The 2022 and 2023 vintages faced the full range of what this diverse and temperate continent offers to viticulture, from drought in Western Australia to the cooler and wetter weather patterns brought by La Niña across the whole of southeastern Australia. Comparing vintages in Australia can be challenging given the constantly changing conditions, but the similarities between 2023 and 2011 were clear. The Margaret River region, for instance, escaped cold, wet weather in 2023 and enjoyed a dry, nearly ideal growing season. This is the opposite of what happened in the southeastern coastal region, which faced cold, wet and difficult conditions – mirroring what transpired in 2011, a year that was almost written off  in the southeast while Margaret River experienced nearly perfect conditions.

The wines from 2022 and 2023 mostly offer purity and finesse, marking a stylistic shift toward balance and poise and away from ripeness and power. Wine styles worth exploring range from the fruit-forward and subtle pinot noirs of Tasmania's 2022 vintage to the precise, laser-focused chardonnays from the east coast's 2023 vintage, as well as the lively, fragrant, and elegant grenaches from McLaren Vale. There is a wealth of style and value to discover across the country from both years.

Vanya Cullen of Cullen Wines shows off her biodynamic, dry-grown vineyard. She made one of the most celebrated wines from Western Australia, the Cullen Margaret River Diana Madeline 2022.

For Western Australia, the two vintages were strikingly different. The prolonged growing season in 2022 followed a wet and windy flowering, followed by dryer than usual conditions and a cool ripening period across Margaret River and the Great Southern (Western Australia’s southernmost region). This benefited the white varieties, allowing them to ripen slightly later than usual, particularly chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc, which emerged as the stars, showcasing heightened acidity, citrus-driven profiles and mineral elegance.

Perhaps the quintessential example of the poise. balance and finesse that can be found in Australia wine is the Frankland Estate Riesling Frankland River Isolation Ridge 2022, which shows great depth with a concentrated, medium-bodied palate and a compelling interplay of creaminess from long lees contact with juicy stone fruit and pink grapefruit character, plus mineral acidity.

Frankland Estate in Western Australia made the amazing Frankland Estate Riesling Frankland River Isolation Ridge 2022 (front).

In contrast, the reds ripened slightly earlier than usual in Western Australia, resulting in medium-bodied wines with fine tannins and red fruit profiles. Herbal undertones and vibrant acidity characterize these reds, which, while lacking the normal levels of ripeness associated with warmer vintages, are set to reward patience in the cellar. This is evident from one of the most cellared and celebrated wines of Western Australia, the Cullen Margaret River Diana Madeline 2022, which displays a deeply perfumed and elegant nose with underlying power, featuring a full-bodied palate that has seamless tannins and an incredible array of complex flavors that will unravel for years to come.

The Bindi Wines vineyards in the Macedon Ranges, in Victoria state.

The pendulum swung in Western Australia in 2023, with warmth and sunshine dominating the growing season after a cool spring. Red varieties thrived, particularly cabernet sauvignon, which offers a generous fruit profile and plush tannins. For whites, the warmer year delivered riper tropical and stone fruit flavours, resulting in fuller-bodied chardonnays with rounded mouthfeel while still maintaining the racy and mineral acidity for which Margaret River chardonnays are renowned, though not to the same level of precision as in 2022. There were few better examples than the Deep Woods Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Reserve 2023, which boasts a reductive and flashy nose with mineral-driven aromas. It is a very classy, tightly wound chardonnay that will age gracefully.

The classy, tightly wound Deep Woods Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Reserve 2023 should reward aging.
Winemaker Michael Downer of Murdoch Hill (left) made the racy, mineral-edged Rocket chardonnay (right) from the cool and challenging 2023 vintage.
Keppel Smith the owner and winemaker at Savaterre Vineyard, near Beechworth, Victoria, makes some of Australia's most exciting pinot noirs, chardonnays and shiraz.

IN THE GRIP OF LA NIÑA

South Australia also experienced two very different vintages in 2023 and 2022, largely due to La Niña, which affected all southeastern Australia for nearly three years, especially 2023. But the growing season in 2022 started on a cool note, followed by a mild summer that transitioned into a warm autumn across most regions in the state. This resulted in a gentle and slow ripening period and delayed harvest, benefiting white varieties, which were able to develop weight and texture while maintaining freshness and acidity. Red varieties present restrained expressions with soft fruit and tannins while still having depth and concentration.

In 2023, the full impact of La Niña took hold, bringing persistently wet and windy conditions that defined the season and resulted in harvests that occurred an average of a month later across most regions of the state, with some variance. But these conditions resulted in bright, pure and focused whites, particularly in the Adelaide Hills. The Murdoch Hill Chardonnay Adelaide Hills Rocket 2023 presents a mineral and powerful aromatic profile alongside a medium-bodied palate showcasing an underlying strength framed by precise acidity.

Michael Dhillon of Bindi Wines works his vineyards in the Macedon Ranges.

In contrast, the reds are lighter and more perfumed, embodying a more classic European-style vintage. Tim Duval of John Duval Wines in the Barossa Valley observed that the old vine character from his 1848 grenache vines helped mitigate the complex weather conditions, enabling wines like the John Duval Wines Grenache Barossa Annexus 2023 to achieve full ripeness while offering lifted aromas balanced by a medium-bodied palate that delivers a lush mouthfeel and finely integrated tannins, tightly wound with a powerful undertone.

The John Duval Wines Grenache Barossa Annexus 2023 is vibrant and tightly wound yet still retains some old-vine power.

The realities of southeast Australia’s 2022 and 2023 vintages were also reflected in the more easterly regions of Victoria, such as Yarra Valley, Macedon, Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland, as well as in New South Wales, particularly the Hunter Valley and Orange, and Tasmania. While exact comparisons cannot be made for each region, 2022 was generally warmer with moderate growing conditions throughout the season, compared with the more La Niña-influenced 2023 vintage. One of Australia's most celebrated and unique wines, the Clonakilla Shiraz Viognier Canberra District 2023, was notably more lifted, perfumed, and restrained than in more conventional vintages while still offering complex aromas and a lush palate with finely integrated tannins and bright acidity, providing an exceptional balance of finesse and power.

The whites from these regions exhibit laser-like acidity and are designed to endure time in a bottle, especially the 2022s from Tasmania's Derwent Valley, which are depthy and concentrated with ample acidity. The Pooley Riesling Tasmania Margaret Pooley Tribute 2022 offers flashy and striking aromas with high tension and electric acidity, supported by an underlying power that reflects the strength of the vintage.

The Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay 2021 (left) is a complex and classy chard from Western Australia.
Associate Editor Ryan Montgomery tasted the prerelease of the much anticipated 2021 single-vineyard series from Henschke, with the Hill of Grace showing its usual poise and elegance. Pictured in the Zoom vid are Stephen and Justine Henschke.

From the 2021 vintage, meanwhile, no wine was more exciting than the annual release of the Leeuwin Estate Chardonnay Margaret River Art Series. This vintage seems to solidify what Leeuwin Estate achieves in quality year after year. The 2021 is complex and classy, featuring a tightly woven palate with high-tension acidity, generous mouthfeel and underlying power. It's another very complete wine, crafted for the ages.

Our final tasting from Australia for 2024 was a sneak peak at the 2021 Henschke wines. The Zoom tasting, with Stephen and Justine Henschke, showcased the Henschke Shiraz Eden Valley Hill of Grace Vineyard, Henschke Shiraz Eden Valley Hill of Roses and Henschke Shiraz Eden Valley Mount Edelstone Vineyard. Stephen Henschke described the 2021 vintage as “nearly perfect” and one of the most complete releases he has noted in this estate's storied history. We will have the tasting notes for those wines in March, when they are released, but in the meantime you can check out the ratings for the other Henschke wines we tasted in 2024 in the notes below, including the Henschke Barossa Henry's Seven 2023 and Henschke Riesling Eden Valley Julius 2024.

EMBRACING CHANGE

Australia’s 2022 and 2023 vintages showcase an industry embracing change. The country’s winemakers are increasingly moving away from the excessively ripe, high-alcohol styles of the past and are instead crafting wines that exhibit balance, precision and elegance. The influence of varied weather patterns has further propelled innovation, with producers adapting their methods to highlight the purity and finesse of their fruit.

From Margaret River’s mineral-driven chardonnays to the Rhone varietals of Barossa and McLaren Vale to Tasmania’s vibrant rieslings, Australia’s wine landscape now mirrors the nation's diverse geography, showcasing an adaptability that has become vital for winemakers tackling climate extremes and shifting consumer preferences.

Through these wines, a clear snapshot of the nation’s evolving palate can be seen, waiting to be discovered by the rest of the world.

– Ryan Montgomery, Associate Editor

The list of wines below is comprised of bottles tasted and rated in 2024 by James Suckling and the other tasters at JamesSuckling.com. You can sort the wines below by vintage, score and alphabetically by winery name. You can also search for specific wines in the search bar.

Sort By